The strange fate of the Pettydwarves
by Parma Quentar Pheriannath
Summary: The Petty-dwarves own story of their origin


M'azarb Khizdinul - The strange Fate of the Petty-Dwarves

_This is the Petty-dwarves own tale of their origins mostly taking place in Beleriand and Eriador in the three ages of Morgoth's imprisonment in Mandos, when Sauron a.k.a. Zigur ruled in Angband._

Mahal the Maker created the six fathers and the six mothers of the Dwarves in his deep Middle-Earth halls in the ages of darkness. His henchman Zigur, also a great smith and mage, got wise to his arts and secretly shaped the last one as an image of the others, but fell short when he would give it life. Embittered, he had to seek help from his master.

Mahal laughed when he saw Zigur's creation, for it was smaller and even uglier than his own and misshapen so that it would never even live. After his own thoughts he reshaped it, and Zigurs mind darkened when he saw his creation comply to his master. Mahal lifted his hammer over the thirteen beings, who awoke and drew back in terror, but he called them to him and calmed them.

In the time following Mahal named the Dwarves and instructed them in the language he had devised for them. He taught them all kinds of crafts, especially the work with the substances of the mountains: iron, stone, gems, silver, gold and True-silver – each one of the fathers got one as his specialty. When he got to the last of the fathers: Mozog, he said: "Your origin was in the hands of Zigur and I therefore entrust you to his teachings."

When Mozog was left alone with Zigur, he was appalled over the things he learned and recoiled from him. Zigur was angered and struck him down, but he himself was now filled with fear of the wrath of Mahal. He fled from the Makers halls and for many an age no one knew his whereabouts.

It now happened that the spouse of Mahal, the Lady of the Earth, visited him in his halls, and he showed her the Dwarves. Last they went to the smithy of Zigur, but he was not there. They found Mozog's broken body by the forge, and the Lady pitied him and healed him. Then she foretold: "Your fate is bound to your creator Zigur. You shall be the father of a people neither great in number or in size, who shall oft be near extinction. You shall not make any great works neither from gold, silver, iron or stone, but a gift I bestow you, that will help you in need. Put it not in stone but in earth and it will be a treasure to overflow your hands!" She then gave him a little brown lump that he hid by his heart, and with Mahal she put him to sleep.

Mozog awoke with Movith his mate in a rocky cave far north in the Blue Mountains. When he opened his eyes he met the glance of Durin, eldest of the fathers of the Dwarves, who called him with his deep voice: "Awake, Mozog, Awake! Far I have wandered, wonders I have seen, five chains of mountains I have searched before I found you, the last and least of my kin. In the East and the South by now the others are busy mining and forging. Arise, Mozog! Take your mate and go out into the world until you find the place to build your forge!" With these words Durin bowed and left them.

For a long time Mozog and Movith walked south by the Blue Mountains in the light of the new bright stars. Mozogs mind wasn't set on mining, and Zigur had taught him no useful craft, but at last he found what he was looking for: Gathol, the place where the broad-beamed Dwarf Garuk and his spouse had made their home. Bluntly Garuk greeted them: "What brings you here, Khizdim?"

Mozog explained his wish to live among his kin in Gathol, to be a helping hand at the forge and to learn the trade of a smith, but Garuk cut him short: "Should I teach you my secrets of the forge? It would be like I let you steal my treasures. 'Kin' you call us, but mine you are not, for you are not created by Mahal like the rest of us. Get thee hence, to the west you must go, I claim the lands to the east!" And at once the sons of Garuk stood by his side, broad-beamed as him self, though they were not even full-grown. One of them with a flaming red beard interceded for Mozog with his father; but the other with the broadest shoulders of any Dwarf, Mozog had ever seen, supported Garuk in ejecting the petty-dwarves.

And by this not so subtle hint Mozog understood that they were unwanted, and with his mate he went out into the Wide World to the West. Though he never liked the mountains, he liked the open land even less. When they after fording a wide river found a range of downs leading westwards as far as they could see, they followed it through strange landscapes. They crossed subterranean rivers and reached a hilly country behind a black rushing river, which they crossed with great effort.

In the soft soil of the river-valley Mozog and Movith buried the brown lump of the Lady, and while they dug themselves a dwelling in the caves behind the hard earth of the riverbank, a plant grew up, put forth white flowers and green bitter berries and withered. When they pulled it up, a plethora of light-colored tubers they found, both large and small, which was good eating when fried in the fire. While they raised a family of little ones, many times they planted and harvested, and their stores were filled with tubers, in time growing brown like the first. Kulub they called it: edible roots.

When the sons of Mozog grew up, the more adventurous of them went out into the wide world, and after a long while some of them returned to tell about their sojourn in Gathol. They even brought wives of the kin of Garuk, and a few red-bearded grandsons of Garuk joined them seeking wives among the daughters of Mozog, for in the meantime Garuk himself had passed away. Also they told of a strange people of terrible tall, pale creatures: Nimri, who now after a long arduous journey westwards dwelled in the surrounding forests.

When Mozog and Movith had grown old, a strange Dwarf one day came wandering from the north. Finding them at the fields along the Black River he told them about his home in the Iron Mountains abounding in gold and precious stones. He recounted how other families of Dwarves had become rich and created great treasures, and he explained how the House of Mozog could get its share in collusion with him. While he was talking, Mozog got a terrible suspicion and he answered him: "Lord Zigur, for you are he, even if your shape is different. You tempt me with gold and power and my heart longs for both, but never will I forget how you struck me and left me for dead, and I hate you even if you are my creator! I feel that no good will come to me if I follow you. I deny you and wish I shall never see you again. Get thee hence!"

But Zigur laughed: "Your wish I will fulfil!" and he killed Mozog and Movith and those of their offspring he could find. Then he cursed all Mozog's lineage: "With my hands I created you – my hands will strike you to the ground! Nothing good shall come to you, but even then you shall follow me. You deny me but you shall meet me again and again!" He then burnt their fields, but their dwellings under the riverbank he did not find.

While the tribes of Nimri went westwards and others founded kingdoms in the lands around, Mozogs family lived an entire age in hiding along the river. They traded with their kin in Gathol, who by and by came to accept them as Dwarves. Along the downs to the east they carried bag after bag of kulub to the Blue Mountains in trade for tools of iron.

When the Nimri, who called themselves Eldar, discovered these strange beings, they started hunting them like animals, but when after a while Khizdim learned some bits of the elven language, a kind of truce emerged and they were left in peace for a while.

But at the end of that age some unrest cropped up among the Elves in the Falas and southern Beleriand. The elders of the Khizdim supposed that again Zigur was at large spreading rumours among the Elves: That Khizdim would make war against them and take over the land. These rumours reached the ears of king Elu Thingol, and though his queen warned him, he sent out his hunters to drive out the Petty-dwarves. Once again their fields were burnt, and by taking hostages Thingol learned where Nulukkhizdin was. The Dwarves had to flee east leaving most of their few acquired riches. They only brought their tools for kulub-growing: all weapons the Elves took.

At his time, the Dwarves of the Mighty Gathol were split in two groups fighting for power: The Broadbeams and the Firebeards each claiming to descend from the founding father Garuk. The Broadbeams were mighty black-bearded warriors, while the Firebeards more often got their rights by cunning (the Broadbeards called it wiliness and fraud).

When the Khizdim came to the gates of Gabilgathol the Broadbeams was of a mind to kill them all, but the leader of the Firebeards intervened and contrived that the Khizdim were allowed to settle east of Bundushulur: Mount Dolmed, where they excavated their caves and planted their tubers in Ulaz-bizar, the shallow valley between the western and eastern peaks of the Blue Mountains. Their new home they called Tumunzahar and here they lived peacefully again until half of the next age had passed.

Elves lived also in the Blue Mountains, but of these – the Red Elves – there were only a few families living scattered along the western slopes of the range, and they were friendly towards the Dwarves, both the people of Gabilgathol and the petty-dwarves. There was some trade amongst them and a great many things the two races learned from each other, for the Red-elves were skilled smiths, and their craft was far different from that of the Dwarves. In the earlier ages the accomplishments of the Dwarves had been strong and useful weapons and tools, just ugly as their creators themselves. The Red-elves taught them to value the beauty of things, so that the most skilled of the Dwarf-smiths from that time of created many works of ark, whose beauty were as great or even greater than many of the finest accomplishments of the elves.

In the beginning of that age the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains found the first lodes of True-silver. Dwarves from all regions of Middle-earth crowded to the area to get a part of the riches (which actually were in the vicinity of Tumunzahar, but the Khizdim hardly got any part thereof), especially Dwarves from the House of Durin arrived in large numbers. This people had from Mahal knowledge of the metal, from the days of Durin inherited by the smiths of Khazad-dum. In the course of the ages the Longbeards had searched mountains all over the world hoping to find True-silver, but only in the very south of the Misty Mountains they had found small amounts. The wisest among them told, that in ages gone by the occurrences had fused with iron and rock to create the unbreakable formation of black rock forming a peak surrounded by a circle beside the southernmost mountain.

When half that age had passed, the mines of the Blue Mountains were empty of True-silver. Then the hordes of Dwarves started leaving again, though a smaller number of Sigin-Tarag, the Long-beards of Khazad-dum, stayed. At this time tidings arrived from the King of Khazad-dum that evil creatures had started appearing in the mountains to the east and north, attacking lesser dwellings of Dwarves in the Iron Mountains. Before the Dwarves could counter-attack, the Rakhas had occupied the oldfather-hall of the Longbeards under Mount Gundabad. An entire generation of Dwarves, even the king, had perished in the attempt to re-conquer the hall, and the new king requested their kin everywhere in Middle-earth to help oust these Goblins.

The Kings and Masters of the Dwarves conceived of a plan that all True-silver from the Blue Mountains should be forged into unbreakable armour for their finest warriors. For a long time the Longbeards in Gabilgathol forged by all their craft and skill, and at last these weapons were to be transported to Khazad-dum, where the armies of the Dwarves should muster.

The Khizdim who were neither smiths nor warriors got the job of carrying the treasure, escorted by warriors from Gabilgathol: a company of Broadbeams and a company Firebeards guarding each other, and one company of the last Longbeards from the Blue Mountains.

When the Dwarves had marched through most of the Lone Lands and were resting by a ford over one of the nameless rivers, Ruchar the master of the Firebeards went to see the Khizdim. He told them that the Broadbeams planned to kill the Firebeards, Longbeards and the Khizdim in order to seize the treasure and by it gain dominion over all the Dwarves of Middle Earth.

The Khizdim now took councel with Ruchar and secretly they sneaked out of camp with the true-silver treasure. The master took them north, as he told them to put the Broadbeams on the wrong track. They had reached the pathless foothills of the Misty Mountains when they heard noise from their pursuers, and the master commanded silence. Suddenly the saw a bright light in front of them – Ruchar had put a mighty fir-tree on fire, which burned like a torch, and by the light they saw their pursuers who were Broadbeams, Firebeards and also Longbeards.

"Fly, you fools!" it sounded from the master, and now the Khizdim saw like a vision raise from him. No Firebeard it was, but a mighty being in dwarf-shape. "Yes! I am Zigur! By the name of Ruchar I took his shape. Again I raise my hand over you!" he shouted, and the same moment an army of evil goblins came rushing to meet them. All Khizdim threw down their burdens and fled while the larger Dwarves fought the overwhelming hordes of goblins.

"Traitors, traitors!" the Dwarves yelled after the fleeing petty-dwarves who for fear and shame didn't join the fight.

Only very few of the Dwarves ever reached the Blue Mountains again, and when the two masters of Gabilgathol heard news of the assault and the treason they killed all the Khizdim, the survivors from the battle under severe torture, and after setting fire to their fields they drove their females and offspring out into the wilderness east and west of the mountains.

The Dwarves now struck the Khizdim from the list of the seven kindred, then the Firebeards moved to Tumunzahar leaving Gabilgathol to the Broadbeams, which finally put an end to the feud between the two families. No one ever again put an eye on the Truesilver-treasure of the Dwarves before the rising of the sun, but they guessed that Zigur had taken it into hiding behind the wall of the Iron Mountains.

Now the Khizdim lived few and scattered, hidden from all other people, and while their numbers slowly dwindled, they slipped into oblivion. They only things they had left were their tubers, the history of their fall, which they passed on to their descendents, a strong dislike of other Dwarves, Elves and Goblins, and their hate towards Zigur; but their hope of ever relieving this by the way of revenge dwindled into nothing.

_Mahal: the Dwarves name for Aule, the master-smith of the Valar_

_Zigur: Sauron, the name is Adunaic meaning Wizard, probably from some Khuzdul root_

_Mozog: a Petty-dwarf, abb. of Modtsognir from the Eddas_

_Movith: female Petty-dwarf, abb. of Mjothvithnir_

_Khizdim: Petty-dwarves_

_Broadbeams and Firebeards: Dwarves from the Blue Mountains_

_Sigin-tarag: The Longbeards, dwarves of the House of Durin, from Khazad-dum_

_Gundabad: a mountain far to the north in the Misty Mountains, probably abb. of Gund-uzbad, hall of the king_

_Tumunzahar: Hollowbold, a city of the Dwarves in the Blue Mountains_

_Gathol: Gabil-gathol, Mikleburg, city of the Dwarves in the Blue Mountains_

_Nulûkkhizdin: dwelling of the Petty-dwarves along the river Narog, where later Nargothrond was_

_Rakhas: the Dwarves word for Orcs_

_Kulub: edible roots, the word is Adunaic, probably potatoes_

_Nimri: the Elves, from Adunaic, white ones_

_Bundushulur: Rainy-head, Mt. Dolmed_


End file.
